Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987 – November 5, 2022) was an American singer born in Tampa, Florida. He was the younger brother of Nick Carter from the boy band Backstreet Boys.
Carter first started recording music at the age of 8 on the heels of his brother's band's success at the prompting of his mother Jane, who wanted to cash in on him, since Nick didn't include her in his business plans. He subsequently became world famous as a preteen/teen idol in the late 1990s, recording three major-selling albums in as many years and having many guest spots on kids' TV shows. He starred as JD McQueen, a pop star who's put in a normal high school, in the 2006 direct-to-DVD movie Popstar, and had a bit part in the 2004 live-action Fat Albert movie.
After spending some time off the map, Carter later participated in the 2009 season of Dancing with the Stars, then began to pick up where he left off with his career in 2013, returning to touring and starting work on a new album. He released an EP tited LØVË in 2017, which would be followed by an album of the same name in 2018, his first in almost 16 years. Sadly, his career around this time would be marred by details of his tumultuous personal life — criminal accusations of abuse by girlfriends, issues with drug use that had him in and out of rehab, estrangement from his family, and losing custody of his son Prince.
On November 5, 2022, Carter was found dead in his bathtub from what was later confirmed to be accidental drowning while under the influence of several substances. He was 34 years old.
Two days after Carter's death, his sixth album, Blacklisted, was released by producers a month before its original planned release date (December 7, which would've been Carter's 35th birthday) to "honor him and share his exceptional artistry with his fans around the world". This was done without the permission of Carter's management team, who condemned the album's release as well as a simultaneous planned release of his unfinished memoir as "obscenely disrespectful" and "heartless money grabs". The album was later removed from streaming platforms.
Discography:
- Aaron Carter (1997)
- Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000)
- Oh Aaron (2001)
- Another Earthquake! (2002)
- LØVË (2018)
- Blacklisted (2022)
Tropes related to his works:
- Adults Are Useless: Both "Aaron's Party" and "Leave It Up To Me" are about how adults are boring fun-haters.
- Big "WHAT?!": Nick in "Oh, Aaron" is happy to get his brother a few extra tickets to his next concert... until Aaron tells him how many he wants.Aaron: One, two, three thousand three?
Nick: WHAT?! I could get you maybe a dozen. - Boastful Rap: "Stride (Jump On The Fizzy)," an "I Am Great!" Song, "Bounce," which involves a party, and of course, "That's How I Beat Shaq".
- Cover Version: "I Want Candy" (the Strangeloves), "Iko Iko" (originally recorded by James Crawford), "The Clapping Song" (Shirley Ellis) and "Hang on Sloopy" (the Vibrations).
- Darker and Edgier: His fifth album has this feel, as he was 30 by the time it was released and had grown out of the teen idol range he previously had and been replaced by other teen idols like Jesse Mc Cartney and Justin Bieber, whom was compared to him when he started. "Sooner or Later" is about his ex-girlfriend (who even appeared in the music video), and "Fool's Gold" is about an ex-lover of the narrator who is still attracted to him.
- KidAnova: Many of his songs, such as "Aaron's Party" and "Oh, Aaron," depict him as as a charmer who'll do anything for a cute girl.
- New Sound Album: The dark pop of LØVË firmly establishes that he's no longer the same singer who did "Aaron's Party."
- Or Was It a Dream?: "That's How I Beat Shaq" ends with Aaron waking up and realizing the whole match was a dream... until he notices he still has the jersey he won."If it was a dream
And it wasn't real
How'd I get a jersey with the name O'Neil?" - Sampling: "Stride (Jump on the Fizzy)" uses a lyrical interpolation of "Break My Stride" by Matthew Wilder as its chorus.
- Self-Backing Vocalist: On his older albums.
- Silly Love Songs: It doesn't get sillier than his. "Girl You Shine" and "Baby It's You" are prime examples.
- Wild Teen Party: "Aaron's Party (Come and Get It)" is all about Aaron getting his parents out of the house to throw a party. It was supposed to be just a little party for some of Aaron's friends, but someone printed up flyers claiming it was an open house, uninvited guests showed up, and people started making a real mess.
- You Are Grounded!: "Aaron's Party (Come and Get It)" ends with Aaron's parents getting back to discover the results of his Wild Teen Party and summarily grounding him for the mess he made.
